16 CFR § 260.5 - Carbon offsets.

---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t16/s260.5"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "16 CFR § 260.5 - Carbon offsets."
title_number: 16
title_name: "Commercial Practices"
section_number: "260.5"
section_name: "Carbon offsets."
chapter_name: "FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION"
subchapter_number: "B"
subchapter_name: "GUIDES AND TRADE PRACTICE RULES"
part_number: "260"
part_name: "GUIDES FOR THE USE OF ENVIRONMENTAL MARKETING CLAIMS"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-04-05"
last_updated: "2026-04-05"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
authority: "15 U.S.C. 41-58."
regulatory_source: "77 FR 62124, Oct. 11, 2012, unless otherwise noted."
cfr_part: "260"
---


# 260.5 Carbon offsets.

(a) Given the complexities of carbon offsets, sellers should employ competent and reliable scientific and accounting methods to properly quantify claimed emission reductions and to ensure that they do not sell the same reduction more than one time.

(b) It is deceptive to misrepresent, directly or by implication, that a carbon offset represents emission reductions that have already occurred or will occur in the immediate future. To avoid deception, marketers should clearly and prominently disclose if the carbon offset represents emission reductions that will not occur for two years or longer.

(c) It is deceptive to claim, directly or by implication, that a carbon offset represents an emission reduction if the reduction, or the activity that caused the reduction, was required by law.